Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (92 page)

He squared his shoulders and looked up at the fortress. “All right, everyone.” He glanced at the group. “Are we ready?”

“Definitely,” Gallus said.

Chapter 14. Azuriah

J
acob sighed in exasperation. “What if we don’t find a weak spot? I won’t be able to get us in.”

Gallus wiped sweat off his forehead. “I don’t know. Maybe we could break through one of the walls. Use explosives.”

Jacob nodded. They’d need to do something. He’d been searching all over the fortress, trying to find a way into it. And the thing was
huge
. Lots of bends and corners and a ton of rock and stone, covered with the symbol he’d seen on the flags outside—the trident with the sun on it.

His throbbing, blistered hands would be scarred for life at this rate.

He paused, a thought occurring to him. He spun, nearly running into Matt and Sweet Pea, who were still trailing him long after the others had wandered away.

“I need something to stand on so I can check the stone above, too.”

The guys nodded, and Jacob followed them. So far, he’d only checked everything within his own reach. They found a couple of old wooden crates—still in fairly good condition—in an abandoned building and hauled them back to the fortress. Jacob got on top of one of them, feeling around as far as he could.

It didn’t take very long for Jacob to find the point of his searching. “Aha!” he said, putting his hand on the warmth. “Got it!”

Sweet Pea, Gallus, and Matt cheered, causing Aloren and Akeno to come running from the tent to join them. Aldo had gone off to explore the town.

The group watched as Jacob warmed, molded, and peeled away the stone like putty. It was hard work. The rock was very thick—much more so than Jacob had thought it would be—and after three feet, he still hadn’t made it all the way. Also, he’d expected to go straight through, but he ended up forming a somewhat winding tunnel as he encountered stone that wouldn’t mold.

After fifteen minutes, Aloren and Gallus left to find Aldo, wanting to see what he’d been doing. Jacob figured they were bored and didn’t want to say so.

Forty-five minutes later, Jacob was pulling out some loose and still-warm rock when he noticed a pear-shaped burst of flame that lasted only a second or two. It was about ten feet away from him and five feet above ground.

“Did you guys see that?”

“See what?” Matt asked.

“Something small on fire over there.” He pointed. “It was hovering in the air.”

Sweet Pea and Akeno shook their heads and left to investigate while Jacob tried to remember if he’d ever seen it before—the color hadn’t been exactly right. It seemed more intense than was possible for a fire that small.

Deciding it wasn’t worth stressing about, he returned to warming and digging through the stone.

The others returned, and Aloren insisted Jacob take a break to wrap his nearly-mangled hands with Kaede-Sap saturated cloth. Grateful, he climbed off the crate.

While resting, he ate roast beef that Akeno had put on the fire several hours earlier. It was delicious, and Jacob found, to his delight, that Akeno had also prepared potatoes just the way Jacob liked them. He thanked the Makalo over and over again, savoring the rich flavor of the gravy and spices. After a while, he decided his hands were fine, then resumed the work.

Only a few minutes later, he felt the last layer of stone give way, and a draft of musty, gross-smelling air—like rotten cucumbers, dead wood, and melted plastic—rushed past at the same time a very bright light from inside nearly blinded him. Did the Shiengols have electricity in there? He squinted, trying not to look directly into the beam, and worked harder, enlarging the hole enough for someone Gallus’s size.

Suddenly, strong arms yanked him through the tunnel into the fortress, and Jacob yelled in alarm. He heard Aloren and Matt freak out, then his attention was taken away by the very full room in front of him. The person who grabbed him stepped back while others moved behind him, forcing him to roll away from the tunnel.

The light was much more blinding inside, and he raised his arm to shield his face.

“Shut your eyes!” a man’s voice said.

Jacob’s were already shut, but he noticed that the light disappeared. He peeked through his lashes, only to discover that the command had been for everyone else in the room. All the Shiengols stood motionless, eyes shut, hands behind their backs.

At first glance, using the filtered light through the high windows, they looked like humans—especially from his peripheral vision. But when he looked at them directly, it was obvious, in a not-so-obvious way, that they weren’t. They were skinny—almost too skinny. Or maybe they were too tall? They were taller than him, at least, and proportioned differently from a human—fewer curves, more straight from the shoulders to the feet. Jacob slitted his eyes, still trying to figure out why they looked so slender compared to humans. Maybe it was their long robes, in bright shades of red, blue, purple, and green.

He started when he realized all of them had markings on their faces that looked like the trident with the sun on it. These markings purposely drew attention to their eyes, and he could tell the Shiengols were proud of this feature. He found himself impatient for them to look at him so he could examine their faces more fully. Similar trident and sun markings were on their robes.

“Uh . . .” Jacob started. He clamped his mouth shut, though, when several of the Shiengols shifted positions a few times.

They moved gracefully. Like Ebony, when she was fighting, only more fluid. It was like a dance—one movement leading naturally to the next.

Remembering how temperamental they were, he honed in on their emotions. What he saw surprised him—they were irritated. Very irritated. At what, though? Was it because of him? How could it be?

Anger, frustration, the pains and stress of the past few days—all of it—boiled inside Jacob. He jumped to his feet, suddenly not caring anymore what these creatures thought of him. He’d just risked his life again and again for them! “Why are you all so annoyed? Is it with me? And if so, why? That doesn’t make any sense!”

Their emotions flickered quickly to red—anger—and the Shiengols opened their eyes, gazing at him. He gasped in shock at the sudden light of their diamond-like eyes. It felt like he was staring into a billion LED flashlights. He raised his arm and looked down, surprised to see that his whole body was glowing.

One of the Shiengols stepped forward. Jacob assumed it was a man, though he couldn’t tell. His hair was long, dark brown, with part of it braided on one side.

“Who are you?” the person demanded in a deep voice—definitely male.

“My—my name is Jacob.”

The Shiengol grabbed Jacob’s arm, flinging him against a wall, the others parting to make room. “You are
lying
.” He scrutinized Jacob.

Lying? How could he be lying? And ouch! “Let go of me! I’m telling the truth! My name is—”

“I know what
they
call you,” he motioned to the hole, still blocked by several Shiengols, “but who are you
really
?”

Realization hit Jacob. “Oh . . .” He squared his shoulders and raised his chin. “I am Danilo Leontii. Prince of Gevkan, son of Dmitri and Arien, king and queen of Gevkan.” He frowned. “But you knew that.”

“Prince Danilo?”

“Yes.”

“
Good
.” The Shiengol released his hold on Jacob and folded his arms. “I am Azuriah, leader of the Shiengol people.” He peered into Jacob’s face, but didn’t say anything more.

Jacob blinked a couple of times, expecting the brightness of Azuriah’s eyes to burn his own eyes, surprised when it didn’t. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion. How had he adjusted so quickly? Moments ago, he couldn’t even look in the faces of the Shiengols, but now, doing so didn’t bother him at all. He stared back at Azuriah, holding the Shiengol’s gaze without flinching.

Azuriah’s emotions were stronger and brighter than the others. He felt determined. Jacob knew this Shiengol meant business.

Apparently satisfied, Azuriah pulled back. “How have you broken into the stronghold?”

“The fortress? Are you asking how we got through the traps, or how I got through the stone itself?”

“Yes.”

“Uh . . .” Jacob looked back at the hole, hoping that at any instant Gallus or Matt would push the Shiengols aside. He couldn’t figure out why Azuriah was asking questions to which he already knew the answers. Maybe the Shiengol was just messing around.

Azuriah noticed where his attention had gone. “You’ll see your friends again. But not now.” He snapped his fingers and said something in a different language. Jacob rolled back on his heels. He’d only heard English since coming to Eklaron, except when the Molg and tarri had spoken. Hearing the Shiengols speak in their native tongue was cool. It sounded like German mixed with Japanese and Latin—or, how Jacob assumed Latin sounded. Kind of Spanishy and Italiany.

Azuriah said something else and the Shiengols broke into a cheer and rushed around the room, gathering things. Swords, poles, clothing. At first, Jacob had a hard time distinguishing the females from the males since they all had long, dark hair, but once he got past their emotional state of extreme excitement, he could see that the females were exceptionally exquisite. They had medium-toned skin, like someone from an eastern European country. Beautiful. They reminded him of a person he’d seen or met before, possibly an actress from a movie, though he couldn’t remember which.

The Shiengols escaped the fortress through the hole, and soon only Jacob, Azuriah, and a female Shiengol remained.

She put her hand on Azuriah’s arm and he smiled—smiled!—at her. She said something in that strange language, then followed the rest.

Azuriah turned back to Jacob. “We have much to do.”

“We . . . we do?”

Azuriah motioned to the hole. “They just left to seek the Shiengols in other parts of Eklaron. Danilo, you have mere months until you must defeat the Lorkon.”

Jacob was stuck on the idea that there were more Shiengols out there, and it took a moment for his mind to switch to the other thing Azuriah had said. “I thought I was only supposed to
help
do that.”

Azuriah gaped. “You’re the only one who
can
do it. Why do you insist on asking so many ridiculous questions?”

Jacob’s mouth popped open. This Shiengol wasn’t nice. He tried to control the disappointment that rushed through him, but he couldn’t. He’d heard so much about Shiengols and had looked forward to meeting them for a very long time. And they were jerks! He thought of many retorts, but held them back, realizing this being in front of him was powerful. Very powerful.

“Explain to me the talents you’ve uncovered so far. In your own words and your own understanding.”

Jacob pushed his negative thoughts away, figuring he’d get answers to his questions eventually. “I can sense weakness in things—that’s how I got into the fortress.”

“Do you know how this works?”

Jacob shook his head. “I just hold my hand over the spot that feels warmest and encourage it to get warmer. Then it becomes moldable.”

“You are exhibiting a partial response to the Rezend that was put in your body.”

“How do you know—you were stuck here when that happened.”

Azuriah raised his eyebrow and stared at Jacob. “Do you
have
to ask?”

Jacob shrugged.

“I see the Rezend in your body. Do you not see it?”

Jacob shook his head.

“You will someday.
If
you learn to control your abilities.” Azuriah walked to an alcove, beckoning Jacob to follow, and they sat on a window seat. Awkward—sitting so casually next to the very touchy, somewhat grouchy leader of the Shiengols. “The Rezend would have given you control over living things. However, due to the Lorkon blood in you, and the fact that you aren’t a Makalo, it had an opposite effect. You are able to sense weakness in things that are dead.”

Whoa. That was insane. “Really? Cool.” Sensing weakness in dead things. He couldn’t wait to tell Matt.

“What other abilities have you learned to control?”

“Well, I can see emotions—I can see yours, and it’s . . .” He paused at the expression on Azuriah’s face, and decided against saying which emotion it was. This guy was super intense! And scary. Jacob hoped he’d adjust to the mood swings. “I, uh, know the creature or person has to be intelligent—meaning, able to think on their own or something. I can’t see the emotions of rats. But I could see the emotions of the dinosaur and the Minyas and the Eetu fish.”

“Dinosaur?”

“The thing we just had to fight—the one outside the walls.”

“Cerpire.”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“The evil and good inside you are constantly working against each other to achieve separate purposes.” Azuriah motioned to the wall Jacob had come through. “You could see the Cerpire and the Molg because of the evil inside you.”

“Evil inside me?” Jacob choked on the words. “I can see evil things, but that doesn’t make me evil.”

Azuriah rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say you were
evil
—I said evil was
inside
you. They’re completely different.”

Jacob hesitated, thinking that over, then nodded. Then something Azuriah said earlier sank in. “Wait. How’d you know about the Molg?”

Azuriah glared at Jacob.

“Never mind.” Jacob bit his lip, deciding then and there never to ask Azuriah another question. This guy was ridiculous.

Azuriah watched Jacob for a moment, his emotions changing, and Jacob did his best to ignore them. Obviously, the man didn’t believe his feelings were Jacob’s business.

Azuriah closed his eyes, making darkness fall upon them. “Do you understand what I’ve explained so far?”

“Yes.” Jacob had known for a while now that the Lorkon tried to change him into a tool—it would make sense they’d also tried to turn him evil.

Azuriah got up and paced. “And do you know why you can see emotions?”

Jacob shook his head. “Not a clue. Because the Lorkon gave me the ability?”